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Troy Baker Has Faith In 'The Last of Us' Film, Assumes He Won't Be The Lead

The announcement of a film adaptation of The Last of Us film was met with some enthusiasm, but a fair degree of skepticism from the gaming public, myself included. With a game that felt like an in-depth interactive movie experience, what would be the purpose of Sony stripping the interaction away and condensing it into an actual two hour film?

One of the primary issues with such an idea is how the powerful performances of Joel and Ellie (Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson) could be replicated. The options aren’t great. The two voice actors could be recast which would preserve the essence of the survivalists fans loved, but neither looks anything like their respective characters, they aren’t recognizable names for the general public, and voice acting does not necessarily translate into screen acting.

The other choice seems risky as well. Recasting the roles with actual Hollywood actors would gain star power but possibly lose the effectiveness of the original characters. This isn’t like adapting a voiceless graphic novel character, these have already been fully acted-out roles. Iconic parts in older films or TV shows have been recast before for reboots and remakes, but the gap between this film and the game would probably be no more than four to five years.

“From experience I trust implicitly everyone at Naughty Dog,” he said. “From Christophe to Evan to Bruce Straley to Neil Druckmann. To everyone who liked that game, you need to trust what they’re doing. I know that if it wasn’t going to be something that accurately represents that story, they wouldn’t do it.”

He also seems to indicate he has no expectations of being approached to play the lead, but would love a cameo spot.

“If I get a chance to be a hunter or a clicker, I’d be so happy! But even if not I’ll participate in watching the film with just as much enthusiasm and excitement as if I was in it.”

It seems pretty obvious at this stage that the cast will indeed be “Hollywood-ized.” Now speculation turns to which actors would be right for the part. There are plenty “grizzled older males” out there that could work, and I’ve heard names like Josh Brolin, Hugh Jackman and Viggo Mortensen. Interestingly, that’s the exact same fantasy cast list I’ve heard for Roland the Gunslinger in the will-it-won’t-it-happen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. I guess older grizzled males are in demand these days. Or always, really.

While I think any of those men could be a good choice, I think finding an actress to play Ellie would be a greater challenge. Though Joel was good character, Ellie was a great one, and Ashley Johnson’s performance especially made the game what it was. The obvious choice is Ellen Page, as the similarities are uncanny. But Page actually ridiculed the game for seeming to rip-off her likeness, and even though she looks young, 27 may be too old to effectively play 14 at this point. That said, I’m sure the Oscar-nominated actress will be approached all the same. Past her however, it would be hard to trust too many young actresses with the part, given Johnson’s big dramatic shoes to fill.

I hope The Last of Us film is good, just like I’ve hoped every video game film to date would be good (which has proven optimistic, to say the least). Furthermore, I hope it actually comes to pass, as the most popular games always seem to have the movies that are destined to fail (Peter Jackson’s Halo, Gore Verbinski’s Bioshock). Hopefully The Last of Us will avoid such a fate with the original minds behind the game guiding it.

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